


Special Needs

by Slaskia



Series: Astral Aligned Continuity [21]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bargaining, But not completely innocent, Dessert & Sweets, Gen, Implied/Referenced Pranks, Kleptomania, Meeting, Mischief, Performance Review, School, Skywarp is a cinnamon roll, Stealing, bad behavior, possible autism, skywarp being skywarp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22617433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slaskia/pseuds/Slaskia
Summary: Winglord Zephyr discovers that some cadets require special handling.  Skywarp being one of them....
Relationships: Skywarp (Transformers) & Original Character(s)
Series: Astral Aligned Continuity [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1018518
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	Special Needs

_Era: Early Golden Age_

_Air Academy, Vos_

His only warning was a soft _popping_ sound.

“You wanted to see me, Sir?”

Winglord Zephyr had barely suppressed a surprised yelp, before sighing and looking up at the black and purple seeker named Skywarp. The cadet was standing at the front of his desk casually, a curious expression on his face. Not the proper stance for this meeting, he noted, but this wasn’t a disciplinary meeting, so he let it slide.

“Cadet Skywarp,” he stated sternly. “You know there are proper procedures for entering my office.”

The dark colored seeker blinked once, then adopted a sheepish expression. “Oh…right…sorry!” he muttered.

“Did you at least check in with the receptionist first?”

“Uhhh…..” The cadet’s wings fully down wings and ‘oops’ expression was all he needed to know. Zephyr sighed and resisted facepalming. 

He had been warned about this. By Skywarp’s own twin in fact.

_‘You will need patience…a lot of it….’_ Thundercracker had told him, discretely, when they had first joined Air Command.. He had asked why and was told Skywarp was impulsive, had trouble focusing and was prone to having ‘sticky fingers’. From the bi-orn progress report he had been looking through, Skywarp definitely checked off the first two ‘boxes’. The ‘sticky fingers’ one was harder to prove if only by virtue of his capabilities.

“I wanted to talk to you about your progress,” Zephyr announced, changing topics slightly. Skywarp’s wings picked up again in interest. “You are behind in many areas.” Those wings dropped.

“Please don’t kick me out…,” Skywarp whimpered, his hands curled up against his chest. “I’d be lost if I had to be out on my-“ He stopped when Zephyr raised a hand for silence.

“It is too soon to make that kind of decision,” the Winglord informed him and he saw him visibly relax a bit. “I simply wished to take this chance to talk to you about your problem areas and see how we can help you improve.”

“O-OK….” Skywarp was shifting nervously. “Where am I bad in…according to that report thing….”

“First, there have been numerous complaints about your conduct in the lecture hall,” Zephyr began. “Falling asleep, skipping lectures, being disruptive in general and…” He double checked the report. “Using your cloaking device to sneak to the instructor’s lecture notes and draw pictures on them. Despite all that, you somehow either barely pass, or barely fail, the exams.”

When he looked back up, Skywarp was fiddling with some of the objects on his desk. Something seemed off, like there was something not there that should be. He mentally ‘hmmed’ but ignored it for now.

“Did you hear what I just said?” he asked, Skywarp’s fiddling reminding him of his focusing issue.

“You were telling me about the things I do in the lecture hall,” Skywarp replied while holding a large white crystal. He was turning it over and over, seemingly fascinated by how the light played off it.

“Such as?” Zephyr prompted, wanting to be _sure_ he heard him.

“Taking naps, talking about things not related to the subject, sneaking down to draw pictures on the board, missing classes and playing pranks on the other cadets during class.”

Zephyr narrowed his optics. “I didn’t mention that last one.”

“Oh….”

“You weren’t paying attention to me, where you?”

“Well…the moment you said ‘complaints’ and ‘lecture hall’ I knew what you were going to say…so my processor automatically filled in the blanks?” Skywarp shrugged somewhat helplessly, the crystal no longer in his hands.

Nor was it back on his desk like it should be. It would appear he now had some ‘proof’ for the ‘sticky fingers’ accusation. He made a mental note for later in the meeting. “Point made,” he admitted. “However, do you have a good reason for this conduct?”

The dark seeker started to shift nervously again. “To be honest, Sir,” Skywarp began softly. “I have a hard time understanding what the instructor is saying: too many big, complex words. I did ask questions…at first…but everyone started making remarks about ‘how I didn’t know that’ and so on. It hurt. So I gave up…had my brother help me instead, but he wasn’t always able to help, mostly due to conflicting schedules….”

Zephyr took all this in, feeling a bit ashamed and angry at what he was just told. There was apparently more going on here than he thought. He needed to probe deeper. “Did you have any formal education?” he asked, wondering if his caretaker was negligent on providing it.

“No, Sir,” Skywarp replied. “We were both kicked to the streets when my sigma manifested.”

“That is a breach of caretaker ethics,” he stated, barely suppressing a growl.

“To be fair…we were lucky we had a caretaker at all…,” Skywarp admitted, shifting more, looking uncomfortable. “We were bad ground sparklings…I was the worser one….”

He blinked, initially too shocked to react. This admission helped explain a lot, as he knew such sparklings were deformed. In the past the ones with deformations that left them barely able to function were left to die. Now though, thanks to medical advancement, that wasn’t necessary.

However, if he recalled right, Skywarp and his twin emerged from the Well early on in the Quintesson occupation, before they had such advancements. From what he was told before, it sounded like he was one of those that would have been left to die, but likely wasn’t due to Thundercracker.

“Yet you look normal?” he asked, immediately feeling a bit guilty for asking in such an inappropriate way.

“Squids.” Was the blunt answer. “But they didn’t fix me up out of the kindness of their sparks. No…they wanted me for my sigma.” A bitter sigh. “They couldn’t fix my lack of smarts though…so they eventually dumped me as well, but with a never-ending debt to pay back…with the threat that if I ever missed a payment….” He gulped but didn’t finish.

He didn’t need to, as Zephyr could guess what would have happened. Skywarp would have been ‘reclaimed’ and likely wound up in the same state as Ebonscream. Dead and preserved in a slagging tank. While he was grateful for Wheeljack telling him and Stormwise his fate, a small part of him wished he had never been told.

Zephyr shoved that memory aside to focus on the present. ”I assume the Quintessons were also responsible for what education you have? Particularly your ability to read and write?”

Skywarp nodded. “They wanted me to at least be able to read their instructions and reply back when on ‘missions’….,” he stated with a shrug. “Only taught me Cybertronian Standard though.”

“I could have sworn I’ve heard you speak Quintesson at least once….”

“Oh! I just know the insults and curses in Quintesson,” Skywarp explained with a grin. “Nightfire taught me.”

Nightfire…ah, yes, he had forgotten Skywarp and Thundercracker were associated with him. He was tempted to ask if he knew what became of that bot, but kept the topic on the matter at hand. “Limited vocabulary or not, I would request for you to refrain from using that language.”

“Aw, but it’s fun to insult idiots when they don’t know I’m insulting them!” Skywarp whined, his shoulders slumping. Zephyr couldn’t stop himself from rolling his optics.

“The reason, Skywarp,” he explained, with a stern tone. “Is for you own safety: the war and the reason behind it is still fresh on many bot’s processors. If the wrong bot hears you speak Quintesson, they may get the wrong idea.”

Skywarp was silent a moment, his optics shifting back and forth as he nibbled on a finger knuckle. “Right…I get it,” he announced after a good klik. “They may mistake me for being an ally to the squids or something and try to hurt me.”

Zephyr nodded, grateful he understood. He also was getting a much better understanding on Skywarp’s mental limitations. A discussion with the instructors will be needed to figure out how best to teach this seeker. Probably be a good idea to have him tested on what knowledge he had and arrange to have any gaps filled.

And also arrange for him to have the same schedule as Thundercracker, come to think of it. Having a source of support that is both familiar and, more importantly, consistent, should help improve with his morale and behavior in lectures.

“Getting back on track, I am guessing your excellent sparring scores are also due to Quintesson training?” he asked.

“Yep!”

“Why would they teach you how to fight?” he questioned, more out of curiosity than need.

“Uh….” It took a several nanos for Skywarp to reply, his expression suggesting he wasn’t sure if he should share. “They…wanted me to be an assassin. But I couldn’t stand the thought of hurting bots for no reason.”

Zephyr sighed, mentally kicking himself for not working that out himself. Teleportation sigma…cloaking mod…of _course_ he would make the perfect assassin! If…he didn’t have these clear mental issues. That combined with his lighthearted, sweet personally, was likely the only factors keeping him from being very dangerous individual.

“Not to say I haven’t hurt others…killed my fair share of squids during the war,” Skywarp admitted.

Understandable, considering he was an active participant in the war. “Have you harmed any fellow Cybertronians?”

“Uh…one,” Skywarp replied, shifting nervously a bit. “Totally deserved it though! He was a sicko…wanted to make Nightfire his bondmate!” The seeker’s plating started to puff out, wings flaring. “Night was only five! Too young! Sicko, sicko, sicko! Me and TC kicked his aft so bad he went crying to his caretaker!”

Seeing Skywarp actually angry was rather frightening. It suggested that Skywarp could still be, indeed, very dangerous if certain buttons were pressed. He made a mental note to talk to Thundercracker about that incident to get more details if possible and to see if he had any other incidents like that in the past.

“Understood,” he simply stated before moving to the next topic. “According to the report, your overall flying score is inconclusive…because you keep teleporting to end of the object courses. You have the same result for the ground-based navigation for the same reason.”

“Why risk crashing, getting stuck, or hurt if I could just teleport to the destination?” Skywarp countered with a shrug.

“While that is a point, the purpose of running those courses is to test, and improve, your physical capabilities,” Zephyr pointed out. “It is important to know your physical limits in the event you find yourself _unable_ to teleport.”

“I kind of doubt that….”

“All sigmas have their limits, Skywarp,” Zephyr insisted.

“Duh, I know….it has a limit of two and a half miles.”

“I’m referring to _usage_ limit,” Zephyr clarified, choosing to ignore the arrogant tone of that retort. “For instance: how often can you teleport in a short time frame?”

Skywarp had opened his mouth to answer a hint of a smug smirk on his face, but then stopped and seemed to think about it for a moment. “It…depends?” he finally admitted sheepishly. “I know I get tired quicker if I’m not on a full tank. I-I think being cloaked or not factors in…and if I’m carrying anything with me.”

“Knowing the full extent of your sigma’s capabilities is important, Skywarp,” Zephyr pressed. “I would advise testing yourself to discover them…preferably with supervision.”

“OK.”

“ _And_ ,” he stressed with a raised finger. “Complete those obstacle courses _properly_ to so you know what you are capable of in the event you find yourself unable to rely on teleportation to escape a situation.”

“Fiiine….,” Skywarp vented with a heavy sigh and roll of optics. “I’ll do them the hard way. Are we done?”

“There is one more thing, Skywarp, before I dismiss you,” he stated, wanting to address the last issue.

“Yes?” Skywarp didn’t look very enthused at what he had to say next.

“Put them back.”

The seeker was blinking in confusion. When Zephyr pointed to a certain spot on his desk, Skywarp formed and ‘ooh’ face and took the large crystal and its smaller twin out of his subspace. Zephyr smirked with satisfaction as they were put back in their proper place.

“Anything else in there that doesn’t belong to you?” Was his next question.

“Uh…maybe?” Skywarp had a sheepish grin on his face again. At the narrowing of his optics, Skywarp started pulling things out of his subspace and putting them on his desk.

It was a rather random assortment of things: tools, small pieces of equipment, energon cubes both full and empty, a few rocks, various datapads, even a colorful blanket. It was when he started to pull out bags of energon sweets that he stopped him.

“Where did you get those?” he asked. 

“I had heard some cadets had managed to sneak in some sweets…so I went looking….and scored!” Skywarp was beaming with pride.

Zephyr once more took this in and an opportunity, an idea, started to form in his head. “You know stealing is a serious offense,” he stated seriously.

Skywarp’s prideful pose quickly melted away, his wings dropping as he curled up upon himself. “I’m sorry,” he squeaked. “Old habit! Had to steal to try to pay that debt I told you about! It wasn’t until I had met Nightfire that-” Once more he quieted when Zephyr raised a hand.

“I am willing forgive,” he told him that idea taking solid form. “If you can use those skills to assist me in a vexing matter.”

“Oh?” Skywarp immediately looked interested.

“You know what is not allowed in the barracks, correct?”

“Food, weapons, hazardous materials, erotic stuff…did I miss any?”

“You got the gist of it,” Zephyr replied with a smirk. “We’ve been having issues with cadet’s sneaking such things in. We suspect a number of them are using…less than moral methods to ensure their goods are not confiscated during inspections.”

A light seemed to go off in Skywarp’s head. “Oh! You want me to sneak in and try to find the stuff!”

“Correct,” Zephyr confirmed, then narrowed his optics. “Provided of course…you are not in on this?”

Skywarp had leaned back and was shaking his hands and head. “Nope, nope, nope!” he cried. “I may take things…but I only take things I think look nice…or are tasty!”

Looking back at the pile of things on his desk, Zephyr admitted he couldn’t really see a noticeable pattern to what Skywarp stole. At least at first glance. Not really an important detail at this moment. “Just making sure,” he told him. “Are you willing to assist me with this?”

“Yeah! Sounds fun!”

“Good, however, I have a few conditions you must fulfill.”

“Oh?” He was tilting his head curiously.

“One, only perform your ‘inspections’ when not in training,” Zephyr stated. “Do _not_ use this as an excuse to skip out on lectures.”

“Aww…OK…,” Skywarp whined shoulders slumping.

“Two, I’d like you to keep note on where you find the items, so we can question and punish the guilty party as needed.”

“No prob there!” Skywarp then asked. “Question…who do I give the swag to?”

“Here in my office until told otherwise,” Zephyr told him. He was going to need to let Commander Afterburn know about this arrangement at the very least.

“OK! Anything else?” Skywarp looked eager to get started.

“One last thing….” Zephyr leaned in and pointed at the items on his desk. “I need you to return all the items to their proper owners.”

“Aw, do I-“ The protest was cut short when he glared at him. “OK….”

“Except the sweets,” Zephyr amended. “Those stay with me.”

Now Skywarp was narrowing his optics. “I don’t think even the Winglord is supposed to have those on Academy grounds…,” he stated.

Zephyr was pleasantly surprised Skywarp had caught his intent. It would seem he was not as slow as he appeared to be. At least in certain areas. “Even I have my weaknesses,” he admitted.

There was a playful, almost sly expression, on the seeker’s face. “How about this then? I keep half…you get the rest.”

Zephyr narrowed his own optics. “Someone like you always hyped up on sweets would not be a good idea,” he cautioned. “Especially during exercises that require precision and focus. Fifteen percent for you.”

“Point but that feels too low,” Skywarp countered. “Forty.”

“Twenty,” Zephyr retorted. 

“Nope, nope! Thirty!”

“Twenty-five.”

“OK,” Skywarp agreed after a few nanos of thought. “Is that all?”

“That will be all.”

“OK!”

Zephyr watched him carefully has he gathered up the items he had put on his desk, making sure he didn’t ‘accidently’ take something he shouldn’t. Fortunately, Skywarp behaved himself, even left seventy-five percent of the sweets as agreed. The seeker then left the same way he arrived, via teleport.

Zephyr sighed, realizing he forgot to address Skywarp’s issue with using doors….

\--

_A few joors later…_

“Skywarp’s behavior and scores have drastically improved thanks to your suggestions, Sir,” Commander Afterburn was telling him. “To think we were actually _hindering_ his progress by keeping him separated from his twin.”

“Skywarp’s situation is an important lesson for us all,” Zephyr stated with a nod. “That somebots will not be capable of learning as quickly or through the same methods as everyone else, but shouldn’t be shunned or turned away because of it.”

“Indeed it is.” Afterburn agreed. “And I admit, I felt rather dubious about this ‘special duty’ you gave Skywarp, but he’s proven to be every effective at it. However….” The Air Commander frowned. “There’s been an increase of complaints about pranks being pulled within the barracks….we suspect it’s him, but of course it’s difficult to prove.”

Zephyr sighed, recalling that Skywarp did admit to playing pranks in the lecture hall. “It will depend on the kind of prank pulled to determine if it’s a punishable offense,” he remarked. “If they just result in wounded pride and hurt egos….”

“Understood, Sir, I’ll see if I can get more details.” There was a few nano’s pause, Afterburn staring at something on his desk with a frown on his face. “Sir, I do have one request.”

“Which is?”

“Please stop eating the evidence.”

Zephyr stopped midway from popping a sweet into his mouth, a half-eaten bag sitting in front of him on the desk. “E-hem…,” he coughed sheepishly, putting the sweet back in the bag before pushing said bag away. “My apologies…these things are addicting.”

Afterburn rolled his optics.


End file.
